Big Ten Friday Night Schedule 2017: What Does It All Mean?

Big Ten 2017 Friday Night Schedule: What Does It All Mean?

– To only a little bit of weeping and gnashing of teeth, the Big Ten has decided it’ll move a few games in 2017 to Friday nights. There’s a mix of conference and non-conference games among the six, and to be perfectly honest, almost all are games that would be lost in the shuffle on a normal college football Saturday. So what are the matchups? …

– The six Friday night Big Ten games in 2017 will be …
Washington at Rutgers, Sept. 1
Utah State at Wisconsin, Sept. 1
Ohio at Purdue, Sept. 8
Nebraska at Illinois, Sept. 29
Northwestern at Maryland, Oct. 13
Michigan State at Northwestern, Oct. 27

– Where will the games be? They’ll be on Fox and ESPN, and the key is that they’ll be in primetime, key spots. Again, they’d probably be blown off on Saturdays, but they’re going to be front-and-center in the national consciousness.

– Northwestern is the only school to play two Friday games. The Big Ten spread the games out over eight different schools overall, with Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State and Ohio State not playing on Fridays.

– Do teams get hosed by playing on Friday? A little bit. Northwestern gets a short week vs. Maryland after playing Penn State the week before, but it gets an extra day before facing Iowa. It then gets just six days before facing Michigan State, but it gets an extra day before going to Nebraska.

Maryland plays Northwestern after a short week against Ohio State, and gets an extra day to prepare for a trip to Wisconsin.

The Badgers are fine – they start the season against Utah State and gets eight days before hosting Florida Atlantic, and Rutgers also begins the season on a Friday at home, facing Washington. The Scarlet Knights get eight days before facing Eastern Michigan.

Purdue only gets six days to get ready for Ohio after playing Louisville, and gets an extra day to get ready for Missouri.

Nebraska gets a short week for Illinois after facing Rutgers, and gets an extra day to get ready for Wisconsin.

Illinois has it easiest, getting a full off-week in between South Florida and Nebraska, and get an extra day to prepare for a trip to Iowa.